Across The State - James City / Norfolk

JAMES CITY - Lightning sparked a fire that destroyed much of a home in Kingsmill on Saturday.

A golfer and a Kingsmill worker said they saw lightning strike the $700,000 home about 4 p.m., said Tal Luton, acting fire chief of the James City County Fire Department.

A resident went outside afterward and noticed smoke coming from the eaves of his neighbor's home at 305 East Landing.

Ray Johnson, 65, was the only person home and escaped unharmed, Luton said. *

15-year-old drowns in Chesapeake Bay

NORFOLK - A 15-year-old drowned in the Chesapeake Bay on Sunday while swimming with friends, police said. The teen's body was pulled from the water at Ocean View just before 5 p.m., said Norfolk Police Officer Chris Amos. Police have not released his name.

Amos said police got the call just after 3 p.m. that four teenagers had come under distress about 25 yards off the beach. Two made it to shore on their own, while another was helped by a bystander.

The fourth went under and later was recovered by divers, Amos said. The teen's body will be taken to the medical examiner's office to determine the exact cause of death, Amos said.

Sunday's drowning come less than a month after two swimmers drowned in the same area. *

One killed, 3 injured in hit-and-run accident

One person was killed and three others rushed to hospitals after a two-car collision closed the southbound lanes of Interstate 95 for about three hours Sunday afternoon near Roanoke Rapids, N.C.

The driver of a light-blue 1988 Ford vehicle with Virginia tags was sought in what State Highway Patrol troopers said was a hit-and-run wreck near the Northampton-Halifax County line in North Carolina, spokeswoman Patty McQuillan said.

The Ford was found behind a house in Roanoke Rapids, she said.

The identity of the victim was not immediately available, McQuillan said.

She did not know whether the victim had been in the second vehicle involved in the 2 p.m. crash, and if the other three injured were in the same vehicle, or another vehicle. *